Genealogy Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Boards

Quick Search

Single word search

Tools

Findmypast DNA Banner

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Which Sarah is it??

Login to Add Reply Watch This
ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Brit

Brit Report 7 Nov 2008 02:48

I am looking for the birth of Walter Edwards, my great grandfather, 1855 Hoxton. I have the birth cert. for his sister Selena and it shows her mother as a Sarah Spence, yet I have a marriage cert for his father William to a Sarah Hodges. Perhaps Sarah Hodges was a first wife, but I cannot find any other reference to Sarah Spence, nor can I find the death of Sarah Hodges/Edwards. The names are just too common. I cannot find the birth of Walter on any of the usual sources.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks. Brit

Richard in Perth

Richard in Perth Report 7 Nov 2008 03:52

Isn't one of these his birth?:

Births Jun 1855
Edwards Walter Shoreditch 1c 120

Births Sep 1855
Edwards Walter Shoreditch 1c 190

Richard in Perth

Richard in Perth Report 7 Nov 2008 03:59

On the 1861 census, Sarah is shown as 33 years old (ie. born c1828). However, the marriage of William to Sarah Hodges seems to have been in 1840:

Marriages Dec 1840
EDWARDS William E London 2 205
HODGES Sarah E. London 2 205

...which is also on the IGI:
SARAH HODGES
Spouse: WILLIAM EDWARDS
Marriage: 26 DEC 1840 Saint Giles Cripplegate, London

... if that is the right marriage then Sarah would have been only 13 years old at the time! Legally possible but I would say it's more likely that Sarah in the 1861 census is a second wife to William (i.e. she is Sarah Spence, not Sarah Hodges).

The other possibility is that you simply have the wrong marriage cert - i.e. it is not your William & Sarah. What was William's occupation on the marriage cert that you have? On the census, your William was a watchmaker/jeweller.

Richard in Perth

Richard in Perth Report 7 Nov 2008 05:00

Possible deaths for William & Sarah, based on when they disappeared from the censuses:

Deaths Jun 1884
Edwards William 66 Shoreditch 1c 83

Deaths Sep 1896
Edwards Sarah 71 Shoreditch 1c 35

Brit

Brit Report 7 Nov 2008 10:32

Hi Richard. Thanks for that. I don't know why I didn't find Walter in Shoreditch! Looking only for Hoxton I suppose. I will send for the cert and that will give me his mother .
Yes, William was a watchmaker (on the marriage cert he is shown as a brace spring maker, which I have been told was part of the watch making trade )and his sons, including Walter, all worked in that field for awhile.
I didn't do the math on Sarah 1861. That makes sense. No record of a Sarah Spence and a William Edwards marriage that I can find as yet. Could it be that she was a widow when they married? I have found a Sarah Spence marrying an Edward Harris and then a Sarah Harris marrying a William Edwards. I suppose the only way to find that out would be to send for the marriage cert.

Thanks for your help Richard. Brit